In episode 23 of Open Source Ready, Brian Douglas and John McBride sit down with Davanum “Dims” Srinivas to discuss the health and future of the Kubernetes community. They explore how corporate changes impact open source contributions, the importance of onboarding programs, and the challenge of sustaining long-term contributors. Dims also shares insights into Kubernetes’ evolving role in AI and GPU workloads. The discussion is equal parts career advice, technical insight, and open source storytelling.
In episode 22 of Open Source Ready, Brian and John sit down with Benji Kalman, co-founder of Root, to explore the intersection of AI, software development, and security. They unpack "vibe coding," its impact on API proliferation, and the hidden costs of increased technical debt. Learn why a security vulnerability is just a bug with a purpose, and discover how AI agents can be used not just to write code, but to automatically find and remediate vulnerabilities in open-source containers.
In episode 21 of Open Source Ready, Brian and John sit down with Chad Metcalf, CEO of Continue, to explore the rise of continuous AI. Chad shares his journey from early embedded systems and platform engineering to leading an open-source-focused company building coding agents. They discuss automation, developer trust, open source attribution, and how AI is reshaping workflows across the entire software lifecycle.
In episode 20 of Open Source Ready, Brian and John sit down with data engineering and cognitive science expert Vasilije Markovic to explore AI memory and how we can build more intelligent systems. From the challenges of "context rot" to the practical applications of AI memory in construction, education, and finance, this conversation covers how to give your AI the context it truly needs.
In episode 19 of Open Source Ready, Brian and John speak with Josh Rosso, Principal Engineer at Reddit and author of Production Kubernetes. From his early days at CoreOS and Heptio to running Reddit’s massive compute platform, Josh shares insights into managing Kubernetes at internet scale, the business realities of open source, and the risks smaller OSS projects face. Lastly, they dive into AI’s growing role in engineering and the challenges of keeping the internet human.
In episode 18 of Open Source Ready, Brian Douglas and John McBride are joined by Christopher Burns to unpack the complexities of consent management and cookie banners. Discover how Christopher’s open source project, c15t, aims to simplify privacy compliance for developers, bridging the gap between legal requirements and practical implementation. This episode offers a fresh perspective on why consent is not just a legal burden, but a critical component of modern web development.
In episode 17 of Open Source Ready, Brian and John speak with Docker founder Solomon Hykes about his latest project, Dagger, and its mission to fix the pain points of modern CI/CD. Solomon explains why DevOps is due for a systems-level rethink and how AI agents are changing the way software gets built and shipped.
On episode 16 of Open Source Ready, Brian and John sit down with Mitchell Hashimoto, founder of HashiCorp, to discuss his journey after leaving the company and his latest passion project, the open source terminal emulator Ghostty. Mitchell shares the accidental origins of Ghostty, his pragmatic approach to technology, and his thoughts on the current state of open source business models. Lastly, they explore the complexities of AI development and the trade-offs of foundation governance.
In episode 15 of Open Source Ready, Brian and John chat with Adewale "Ace" Abati from Block about Codename Goose, an open-source AI agent, and the underlying Model Context Protocol (MCP). They explore how AI agents are revolutionizing developer workflows, the concept of "vibe coding" for rapid prototyping, and the future of AI in productivity and accessibility.
In episode 14 of Open Source Ready, special guests Mike McQuaid and John Britton join Brian and John to share the story of Workbrew. They unpack their journey in the developer tools space, the evolution of Homebrew, the inspiration behind Workbrew, and their perspectives on the future of developer environments.
In episode 13 of Open Source Ready, Thorsten Ball of Sourcegraph joins Brian and John to unpack the real-world engineering decisions behind language choices, like Microsoft using Go for the recent TypeScript compiler rewrite. Explore the importance of continuous learning in tech, the benefits of knowing multiple programming languages, and how AI agents are poised to reshape developer workflows.
In episode 12 of Open Source Ready, Brian and John welcome Ron Efroni and Ross Turk from Flox to explore the world of Nix, a powerful package manager and more. They discuss how Flox simplifies Nix for developers and enterprises, the challenges of adopting new packaging paradigms, and the evolving landscape of containers and AI in software development.
In episode 11 of Open Source Ready, Brian Douglas and John McBride sit down with AI expert Steve Manuel to explore the Model Context Protocol (MCP)—a framework that enhances how models interact with their environments. They break down why context-awareness is crucial for machine learning and how MCP is transforming open source AI.
In episode 10 of Open Source Ready, Brian and John chat with Taylor Dolezal, former CNCF Head of Ecosystem and current Chief of Staff at Merly AI, to discuss the latest trends in open source, AI, and Kubernetes. From the challenges of AI adoption to the evolving role of cloud-native technologies, Taylor shares insights on where the industry is headed and how developers and companies can navigate these rapid changes.
In episode 9 of Open Source Ready, Matt Trifiro joins Brian and John to discuss the evolving landscape of commercial open source, the challenges startups face in monetization, and how intellectual property law impacts the ecosystem. Tune in for insights on balancing community-driven development with sustainable business models.
In episode 8 of Open Source Ready, Brian and John sit down with Daniel Mangum, CTO of Golioth, to discuss his journey from distributed systems and Kubernetes to open source hardware. They explore the rise of RISC-V, the potential of decentralized social media, and how AI is shaping the future of computing. Plus, Daniel shares insights into FPGAs, the AT Protocol, and why open source innovation matters more than ever.
In episode 7 of Open Source Ready, Brian and John are joined by Kent C. Dodds to discuss the evolution of React, the rise of Remix, and the future of front-end development. From early struggles with Angular to React Router v7’s role in modern apps, Kent shares valuable insights for developers navigating the ever-changing JavaScript landscape.
In episode 6 of Open Source Ready, Brian and John are joined by Adam Jacob, co-creator of Chef and CEO of System Initiative, to discuss the philosophical and business intersections of open source. Adam shares insights on the evolution of free software, the challenges of monetizing open source projects, and the future of collaborative development in an increasingly commercialized tech ecosystem.
In episode 5 of Open Source Ready, John and Brian speak with Elliott Minns, the creator of Dreams of Code and Dreams of Autonomy. They explore Elliott’s mission to empower developers through software autonomy, the challenges of open source sustainability, and the fascinating potential of Linux and NixOS. Discover how self-hosting and open source tools are transforming the way we interact with technology.
In episode 4 of Open Source Ready, Brian and John chat with open source expert Tobie Langel about the critical issues of sustainability and security in open source software. Tobie shares insights on the vulnerabilities of widely used open source projects, the need for professional maintainers, and the evolving legislative landscape that could reshape the future of open source.